WaterWish

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of your good wishes! We got great news today! The pediatric neuroradiologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia basically said to WWJr.'s neurosurgeon, "I don't know why everyone is so excited. It looks good to me." !!! I'm so excited. Happy dance! GIF party in the comments! Thanks for all your support, everyone. You are all The.Best.

I could use a little support but don't want to turn this into a Facebook-y, personal Twitter overshare. If you have been following along, you know about the health issues of WWJr. Well, we just went to the neurosurgeon for a follow-up.

It's been 6 months since her last MRI, so we had one done last week. Neurosurgeon bounds into the room at our appointment and says, "Scans look beautiful!" Well, he was basing that comment on the radiology report. A few minutes later, after he checks WWJr.'s reflexes and gait and all that, he sits down to give the MRI a look-see himself.

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Well, he starts second-guessing. Doesn't like this thing that could be a blood vessel, but that to him looks different from the way it looked on the scan from 6 months ago. Starts talking about when our second opinion is going to weigh in. What we should do about a third opinion. And ugh and ugh.

I turn to look at my daughter and she has just started to panic, is welling up with tears. Which, as any parent can imagine, just about broke my heart in two right then and there. She recovered quickly, realizing the surgeon is operating with an abundance of caution. I believe (as does WWJr) that he takes responsibility for her tumor having returned after 4.5 years and her having to have the second surgery. I think it devastated him that he wasn't able to prevent that from happening. So he is taking on an extra burden of wanting to be sure.

And I'm OK with that. Now we wait. As long time CLTers remember, it was Shouldn't Have who put us in touch with a top pediatric neuroradiologist who has been wonderful enough to continue giving us second opinions on all of WWJr's scans. She has her own challenges though, caring for her 101-year-old mother in addition to teaching at a top medical school. I put a call in to her office today, to let them know that her opinion is pretty critical this time around. The disk won't arrive there until tomorrow, so it may be several days before we know.